


Battle Wounds

by Murvennn_x



Category: The 100 (TV), The 100 Series - Kass Morgan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe (The 100), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - The 100 (TV) Fusion, F/F, F/M, M/M, Minor Emori/John Murphy (The 100), Minor Finn Collins/Raven Reyes, Protective John Murphy (The 100) - Character, The 100 (TV) Season 1
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:06:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 18,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25125154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Murvennn_x/pseuds/Murvennn_x
Summary: The Earth is dying. The remnants of humanity live inside a gated Arkadia. Every year, a ‘contest’ takes place whereby 30 newly turned 18 year olds are sent into an arena to fight. There’s only one rule and that is, be victorious.OrWhen Raven Reyes and John Murphy are both chosen to take part in the annual contest, they are pitted together by an unlikely proposal.
Relationships: Abby Griffin/Marcus Kane, Emori/John Murphy (The 100), John Murphy/Raven Reyes, Monty Green/Jasper Jordan/Nathan Miller, Octavia Blake/Raven Reyes, Raven Reyes/Miles Ezekiel Shaw, murven
Comments: 5
Kudos: 23
Collections: the 100





	1. PROLOGUE

**Author's Note:**

> This story is giving me major hunger games vibes (unintentionally) lol. Also my loves Jasper and Octavia should have been together in the show (boo you Jason), so I thought I’d play it out in this story. Clarke is mentioned but is NOT the main character because well I can’t be bothered to write for her!! 
> 
> Hope you guys like, I’m excited to carry on with this!

_Today we commemorate as a nation, one nation, the first ever Contest. Today, thirty combatants will take part in the battle to save the human race. Our Earth is dying, the past one hundred and eighty two years have shown us that. Our aim is to control population, in order to preserve our resources. If we don’t, the human race will become extinct within five years. The names of the combatants will follow this announcement. There are no rules, except be victorious. We thank you for your sacrifice._


	2. Chapter 2

Today marked the 18th annual contest, where thirty combatants who have just turned eighteen would fight in an arena for their survival. Raven Reyes had been preparing for this day for her whole life, she was the best mechanic that Arkadia had seen for one hundred years. She knew that if she was to get picked today, her mechanic skills would help her. If one thing was certain, it was that if she was picked, she had to win.   
_“We thank you for your sacrifice, be victorious.”_ Chancellor Jaha’s voice bellowed over the television screen. Raven paced the room, Sinclair sat on the chair beside her, trying hard not to show he was worried.  
“ _In no particular order, the names of those taking part in the annual contest are as follows- Nathan Miller.”_ Raven’s eyes flashed to Sinclair, her thoughts flashing to Miller, one of her friends from Arkadia, he would be leaving his father and his boyfriend Dr. Jackson. Tears formed in her eyes, Raven knew Jackson wouldn’t cope without him. Although Miller had military training, she knew he wouldn’t win. The next two names flashed up on screen, causing Raven to let out a small sigh, _“Octavia Blake, Jasper Jordan”_ , they were a couple, hell the cutest couple Raven knew, and two of the nicest people. The rules of the contest were that there is only one winner; there’s no way Octavia would kill Jasper, or visa-versa. _“John Murphy, Gaia Fleming, Raven Reyes”_. Sinclair fell to the floor at the sound of Marcus Kane reading her name out. He couldn’t lose her. He trained her for six years, he was the very reason she was so strong. When she lost her mother, Sinclair became her family, the only person who ever looked out for her, except Finn, her ex-boyfriend. “No, no”, he screamed, blinking a tear away. Raven knelt down next to him, hugging him tightly. Part of her was petrified, but part of her knew that this was her duty. To save the human race. The names continued to be announced, but Raven took no notice of anyone else, she was too focused on trying to comfort Sinclair. To tell him she would win. Nothing about the contest was right to Sinclair. Sending 30 kids a year into an arena to fight to their death. Just for one to win. It was wrong. The contest was made because the world was dying, climate change ruined half of the world and made it inhabitable, natural disasters had caused civilisations to be wiped out, pandemics spread across the world. Arkadia was formed 100 years ago, with the remnants of the human race, all one million of them. Slowly but surely, the council members elected to reduce population by limiting families to only having one child. But when the Ark found out it only had eighteen years of resources left, it made it a rule for only women over the age of twenty-five to bare a child; and for the contests to take place, meaning thirty newly turned eighteen year old destitute’s would take part in a battle, with only one being victorious.

Raven and Sinclair travelled to the arena the next morning. She was dressed in black jeans, a red bomber jacket and had her hair up in a ponytail. This was it, this could be the last time she ever saw Sinclair. “Raven, you have to win this”, he whispered, pulling her into a hug. “I can’t lose you”. “I know, and I will. You didn’t teach me to be some average teenager, you taught me to fight, to use my brain before my heart, and that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to win.” “May we meet again”, he stated, as a guard approached Raven and inserted a wristband on her. This was to measure her vitals as well as to track her movements. Raven hated the idea of being watched on television. She was never good with being the centre of attention. “May we meet again”, she responded, a single tear dropping down her cheek. The guard pulled her away from Sinclair, leading her backstage. “Bellamy?” Her eyes squinted at the sight of her old friend, who was donning a guards uniform and cap. “What the hell are you doing here?” She asked. “Saving your ass”, he explained, handing her a small folded piece of paper, “Kane told me to give you this”. She opened the paper, which read: _Taking a life should never be easy. I hope it’s not for you. Your humanity is your greatest strength. Sometimes we need a different kind of strength. We need to survive. Then we can all find our humanity again. Be victorious, Raven. We need people like you in this world_. Marcus Kane may have been one of the councillors, therefore one of the elite, but he was always kind. He voted against the contest, he was the only one. Often, Raven would cross paths with him when she was training with Sinclair, he always admired her work and even gave her the mechanic of the year badge two years ago. Her mouth formed into a small smile, as she thought of winning, of making Sinclair and Kane proud. But then she thought of killing twenty nine people, some of which were her friends, and she felt a knot in the pit of her stomach. “Your sister, I won’t kill her, Bellamy, I refuse”, Raven muttered, so the other guards didn’t hear. “I know you won’t, but in the end, if its just you and her, if you have to, I won’t blame you.” He smiled at her before parting ways. Raven took a place on her podium, staring out at the crowd of people watching, she found her gaze turn to Kane, who was standing in the Councillors Box, alongside his wife Abby Griffin and her daughter Clarke, as well as Chancellor Jaha’s son, Wells. They had just turned eighteen, but were both exempt from taking part in the contest, because of their status. “Mr John Murphy”, the crowd booed at the sound of his name, he smirked from his podium, taking a bow. The first time she saw John Murphy, Raven was seventeen, she had been visiting her ex- boyfriend, Finn in juvenile lockup. Murphy was sat at the table next to him, waiting for his mother to turn up but she never did. Murphy had chosen a rifle as his weapon, and had the “survival” backpack, comprising of all sorts of items to help him survive the contest. He was a lot smarter than he let on, which would come as a shock to a lot of people, but that could be his advantage in the arena. “Ms. Raven, Reyes”, the crowd erupted. Raven looked up to the box, where Kane was cheering alongside Clarke and Abby. Sinclair was placed just below them in the upper tier, she saw a smile form on his face as he blew her a kiss. It came as a shock to her that people even knew her name, let alone cheered her on in a battle. She took out a knife as her weapon, and grabbed the backpack which displayed “tools”.

_“Remember, there is only one rule, be victorious. For the sake of the human race. Let the battle commence”_


	3. Chapter 3

The podium submerged underground; to where the first day of the battle takes place.Raven sprinted off the podium into the underground tunnel, and into an artificial forest. If she didn’t know it was artificial, it would seem real. It even smelt like the forests did back on the ground, before they were all chopped down to make room for houses. Next to her, John Murphy appeared. “Better run, Reyes. Wouldn’t want to get shot now would you?” “Shut up, Murphy. Before I kill you”, Raven exclaimed, raising her eyebrow at him and reaching for her knife. There was something about him that always intrigued her, but she could never put her finger on it. “You wouldn’t want to do that, not when I have a proposal for you”, Raven looked intrigued, but cautious at the same time. They were out in the open, where anybody could see them. She took his arm and lead him behind some trees. “Go on,” she muttered, her body tensing at the sound of gun shots in the distance. “Work with me, I know you were listening back in the contest skills classes. I know you know what Pike said; that the key to survival is to never stop fighting. It’s life or death, nobody is coming to save us”. Raven contemplates Murphy’s offer for a few seconds, she remembered Kane’s note. She wasn’t a killer, but she knew she would have to kill eventually. But she knew, as soon as she killed, she would never get her humanity back. Maybe Murphy’s offer was a saving Grace, maybe they could help each other. “I heard the crowd cheer for you, I know you have skills that could help us both. Finn always spoke highly of you. He said that no matter what, that he will always love you. He made me promise him one thing, that I would protect you at all costs. I know you’re a good person, that killing will break you. So you won’t be killing anyone, Reyes. I will.” Raven had never felt this feeling before, she felt overwhelmed with gratitude that Murphy wanted to help her. That he promised Finn he would protect her. Before she could even think about what she was doing, she embraced him, wrapping her arms around him tightly. “Thanks, Murphy.” Their deal was on, he was going to protect her, stick by her and kill anyone who tried to kill her. If it came down to just the two of them, Murphy said he’d put a bullet in his own brain, to stop her from having to do it. It was a promise Raven never thought she would accept, especially not off John Murphy. 

Taking her backpack off her shoulders, she took out some clippers and wires. “Get me some wood, would you?” She asked Murphy, who was slouched against the cave wall. Murphy nodded at Raven’s demand, and headed out from behind the tree to scavenge some logs. There were some by the entrance to the forest, he remembered seeing them before he approached Raven. Part of him didn’t want to leave her, but where they were set up was secluded, nobody would know she was there unless they went looking for her.He quickly marched over to the logs, and luckily for him, they were still in place. Picking one up, and placing it in his backpack, he heard footprints behind him. “Drop the logs, John”, a familiar voice uttered. He spun around slowly, to see Emori standing in front of him.   
“Hello to you to”, Murphy replied. Emori took out a gun and placed it to his head. “Now, that’s really no way to greet your dashing ex-boyfriend is it?” “I said, drop the logs. Now.” Emori repeated, her eyes bored into him.He heard Raven’s voice get closer, she must have been approaching him, “what’s taking you so damn long, Murphy?” He dropped the logs, and backed away from Emori, even though his ex-girlfriend broke his heart, there’s no way he could kill her, nor could he let her kill Raven, which he knew she was capable of.Emori flipped her position to where Raven was now standing, knife in her hand.   
“It’s okay, Raven. Go back to our spot, I got this”, Murphy said, for the first time in his life, he was scared. Not just a few months ago, Emori and him were sleeping together.Raven nodded, and retreated backwards. She knew exactly what happened between Murphy and Emori, it was talk of the town for months. He met her during an expedition, she stole from them, he fell in love with her almost instantaneously.“Raven Reyes, really John? She’s way too smart for you” Emori laughed, picking up the logs. “Now, I’m going to leave. Follow me and I will shoot you”.Murphy froze, he didn’t like the thought of Emori in danger, but he knew she would never join his side. She hated him, after all. As soon as Murphy started to walk away, back to where Raven was, he heard a huge scream, he knew exactly who that was coming from, he followed the sound, and waited out of eye-line, he saw Emori held at knife point by a guy he’d never seen before. He took his gun from his belt, and aimed it at the guys head, “here goes nothing”. The sound of the gunshot almost knocked him to the ground. Emori stood in shock, looking at the body on the floor beneath her feet. Murphy appeared from behind the tree, “you’re welcome, by the way”. She hugged him, “Thank you, John. Take the logs, you saved my life it’s the least I can do.” “You can come with us you know, me and Raven.” John whispered, he knew the cameras were on them right now and he didn’t want the crowd to hear him. “No, John. Now, go. Survive”, she backed away from his grip, and started to run away from him.“That’s what I always do, right?” He muttered to himself. 


	4. Chapter 4

Murphy appeared back at Raven’s side, he placed the logs down on the floor as she sparked up the wires against the log causing a fire to start.  
“Are you okay, Murphy? I heard the gun shot”, Raven asked, lying against a rock in the cave.  
He nodded, “I had to kill him, he was going to kill Emori”.  
“I know, you had to. It’s okay”, Raven said, placing her hand over his. She wanted to feel close to someone, she was freezing now and the heat from the fire hadn’t started to kick in yet.  
“You’re freezing, Raven. Here.” Murphy handed Raven a blanket which was in his bag.  
“Here, snuggle up to me and you’ll keep warm too, Murphy”, Raven suggested, smiling up at him. He shuffled closer to her, their body’s almost touching. Although he cared for Emori, right now he just had Raven on his mind.

They were woken up a few hours later to a bang, Raven was the first to open her eyes, her body was somehow intertwined with Murphy’s, his arm resting on her waist. It felt good to wake up with someone like this. She hadn’t been close to anyone like that, since Miles. But that ended when he was promoted to Colonel, taking Charmaine Diyoza’s place in the National Guard.Murphy opened his eyes soon after, “what was that?”  
“ _Combatants, five people were killed in battle. Please head to the exit and approach the next battle ground”_  
“Five, already? It can’t have been more than twelve hours” Raven said.  
“Come on, let’s get our stuff together and head out, stay a little ahead of me, we don’t want the people at home to know our plan”.  
“Sure,” Raven packs her stuff into her bag and heads out of the cave, Murphy followed closely behind her. As the door opened to the next area, Raven was met with overwhelming force as one of the combatants pushed her to the ground on entering. She stumbled to her feet slowly after and the door closed behind her, locking the last world out. This area was a huge open space, it looked like the ruins of a city. There was a fountain in the middle of it, which looked remarkably attractive in comparison to its surroundings.  
It seemed like none of the tools she picked up would help her in this setting, which is why she was glad she had Murphy. He had gone ahead of her, to hunt out a good place for them to camp. Raven’s vision had started to get quite blurry since waiting for Murphy, she wondered whether she had a delayed concussion from her fall. No matter how hard she tried, Raven couldn’t keep herself upright, she had gone dizzy.

After what felt like forever, Raven opened her eyes to Murphy cradling her, he had found her passed out on the ground when he went back for her. He had dressed the small wound on her head.  
Her surroundings were unfamiliar, they had taken shelter in a derelict building.  
“Murphy”, Raven murmured.  
“I’m here, Rey”, Murphy replied, stroking a piece of hair out of her face, “you gave me a fright”.  
“How long was I out?” She propped herself up against Murphy, her head was now pressed against his chest.  
“A day”, he replied.  
“A day?” She raised an eyebrow in confusion, “how are we still here?”  
“I don’t know, I take it there’s still too many of us left to move on yet”. This was the slowest contest there had been in the history of contests. Usually, its over within four days. But, this year was different, although five had died in the first area, nobody had killed anybody in this one. Either they were too good at hiding, or they were waiting it out, and only killing when really necessary.  
“Did you see Octavia, Jasper and Miller?” Raven asked, recognition dawned on her face. She remembered what she said to Bellamy, that she wouldn’t kill Octavia, but that didn’t mean Murphy wouldn’t.  
“I saw Miller, have no clue where the love birds are though. Probably hooking up before our genocide”.  
“Murphy” Raven let out a small laugh, “not a bad way to go, I guess”.  
“You’re telling me”, Murphy rummaged around in his bag for something.  
“Here, I forgot. Eat, please”. He handed her half a protein bar. She smiled at him.  
Murphy was being so overprotective of Raven, and she loved it. It showed her a new side to him, a side she found herself strangely attracted to.

“Come out and fight, cowards” a voice which Murphy and Raven new so well echoed around the arena.  
“Echo” they said, almost in sync.  
It was only a few months ago, when training in the compound, Echo killed a guard. It was revenge for her clan and her mother’s massacre. Echo was only just born when she was torn from her mothers arms when she refused to move to Arkadia. It was safe to say, she held a grudge for eighteen years, not that anyone can blame her. But, Arkadia was made up of people from different clans, who were ordered to move out of their towns and into the safety of Arkadia.“Octavia,” Raven mumbled, “she will fight her”.  
“Octavia’s not stupid, Rey.”  
“She’s a warrior though. The girl who was born illegally, watched her mom be executed and sentenced to her whole teenage years in lockup. I’ve seen her train, she’s a badass.” Raven exclaimed, clambering to her feet.  
“No way, Raven. You go out there, you will die”, Murphy spat, clenching his jaw. “If Octavia fights her, that’s her choice. You can’t stop it.”  
“Like hell I can’t. I don’t need protecting, Murphy.”  
Raven owed it to Bellamy, he saved her life multiple times. He was her friend. He couldn’t let Echo kill her. A wail came from outside, Murphy and Raven peered round the corner of the building they were in. A guy from the agriculture group, who had been working on plans to make Arkadia more sustainable, was running at Echo, pushing her to the ground. “She’ll do it to you too” he yelled, followed by another scream.“What the fuck”, Murphy said, looking on. Octavia appeared in the centre, where Echo was on the floor, the farmer on top of her. “Could’ve been a fighter, but you became a farmer. What a useless coward you are” He muttered, Octavia ran over to him and pulled him off her. “No, no. I have to kill the demon”, the farmer cried out, “I have to kill him”.

Jasper and Miller appeared in the centre too, holding him down as Octavia struggled to calm him down.  
“You haven’t got to kill anyone, Brad. Shhh, it’s okay”. Jasper filled a thermal cup from his bag with water from the fountain, he gave a sip to Brad, and one to Echo.  
“We can’t just stand and watch, there’s something wrong with him”, Raven said, marching towards the crowd.  
“Raven, you have to help me stop the demon”, Brad exclaimed, his pupil’s dilated.  
“What the hell is wrong with him?” Murphy asked, towering over him. He rubbed his eyes, and balanced himself against Raven.  
“Murphy, are you okay?” Jasper asked.  
“Come on, Murphy. Not you too”, Raven whispered, almost inaudible. Raven caught what he said, and sat him down next to Brad. He took a few deep breaths, but he looked agitated.  
Echo was now sweating buckets, giggling to herself uncontrollably.  
Something had happened in the arena that affected everybody. Well, except Raven and Octavia.  
She was leaned over Murphy, his breathing was getting slower.  
“No, Murphy. Come on, don’t do this to me.” Raven cried.  
“Move over”, a male voice that everyone recognised as Monty Green demanded from behind us. “He’s got a toxin in his system, they all have. It’s from the water, it has to be. Raven, Octavia. You’re the only two who haven’t drank any from the fountain, right?” “Right” Raven replied.“I have the antidote, it was in my bag, I figured it must be needed for something. I guess this is it”, Monty explained, pouring some of the serum into everyone’s mouths.Murphy’s heart-rate steadied, causing Raven to hug him tightly, “I thought I’d lost you”.“Hey, I’m a cockroach, remember. I’m hard to kill” Murphy joked. Echo pulled herself up off the ground, took her sword and plummeted it through Brad’s stomach, “for my mother, for my people”.   
“You shouldn’t have done that, Echo.” Octavia spat, taking her sword out. She walked over to Echo, “you want to kill someone, at least make sure it’s someone who gives you a fair fight”. “Octavia, no!” Raven shouted, but she was too late, Echo and Octavia were fighting. If Echo won, there would be a blood bath, she’d kill the rest of them on the spot. If Octavia won, she would at least spare their lives.


	5. Chapter 5

There was not much Raven, Murphy, Jasper, Monty and Miller could do, other than watch as Echo floored Octavia, time and time again.  
“Is that all you’ve got?” Echo screeched.  
“I’m just getting started”, Octavia replied, blood trickling from a cut on her arm.  
“I can’t watch”, Jasper cried. “I’m going to lose her, aren’t I?” Murphy rolled his eyes, mocking Jasper, “Oh pass me a bucket”.  
“Murphy”, Raven snapped, glaring at him.  
“Sorry, being around love birds got me all cranky”, he laughed.

A few minutes pass, Jasper was being comforted by Monty. Miller watched on in desperation, as did the crowd, they were desperate for Octavia to win.  
“You’re all cowards, hiding because you don’t want to kill each other. You’re weak.” Echo spat, dodging Octavia’s sword one more time. Maybe she was right, they were all hiding. They had all been through a lot together, and didn’t want to kill each other.  
“You’re good, Octavia. Maybe the best fighter I’ve seen. But you’re no match for me”, Echo floored Octavia again, this time she raised her sword above her head. “Your fight is over”.

Raven remembered Sinclair’s advice, to survive, she had to use her brain over her heart. Her heart was telling her to run away, but her head was telling her to kill Echo before she could kill Octavia. She had to.  
Murphy was too busy pacing in front of the fountain, watching on. Raven grabbed his rifle, lined up the shot and pulled the trigger. The bullet landed straight through Echo’s chest. “Like hell it is”, Octavia replied, stumbling up off the floor, leaving Echo to bleed out.

Murphy’s eyes flicked to Raven, her eyes were glossy with the tears forming in them. She killed someone. She really killed someone. She noticed the camera turn to her and her friends. The whole of Arkadia just saw her kill someone. Sinclair saw her kill someone.  
Jasper kissed Octavia as she reappeared in the group. “Raven, you saved my life”, Octavia said, hugging her. “Come on, we need to hide out until morning”.  
Raven stood still, she couldn’t move.  
“I know the place”, Murphy stated, pointing toward the building him and Raven were in before. “We’ve got our supplies in there, will meet you in there”.  
Raven was still stood frozen, gun still in her hand pointed at the ground.  
“I just killed someone”, she replied, her words slurred. “I just killed someone”.  
Murphy simply nodded, he was disappointed that he didn’t stop her. Or that he didn’t kill Echo himself.  
“It gets better, the guilt I mean”, Murphy replied. “I promise you that”, he took her by the hand and led her to the building where their friends were gathered.  
“2 dead, 3 more to go until we can move on”, Miller stated. “Not like we’re counting”, Monty replied.

The friends tried everything they could to take their mind off the fact that they could be killed any day now, they reminisced about good times they’ve had, and bad times. It made them closer, but they were avoiding the one thing Raven had on her mind, murder.  
“What happens if it’s just us in the final”, she asked, nervously twiddling with her fingers.  
“I refuse to kill any of you”.  
“Jasper and I won’t kill each other, someone has to take our lives”, Octavia explains, looking towards Murphy and Miller, who were sat opposite them against the wall. Murphy smirked. Raven’s stomach knotted at the sight of him, she was so attracted to him.  
“I don’t care which of you kills me, just make it quick”, Miller joked.  
“I’m serious guys. I am not murdering my friends.” Raven disputed.  
“It’s not murder, Raven. It’s how the human race survives. All of me for all of us, isn’t that what they say?” Octavia replied, kissing Jasper’s cheek.  
“You can’t honestly believe that. It’s bullshit.” Raven snapped, Murphy placed his hand on her shoulder for comfort.

The night fell on the arena, Raven was still in shock from killing Echo. Murphy and Monty comforted her as best they could. Miller kept watch by the doorway of the building, whilst the others got some rest. Murphy patted the ground next to him, instructing Raven to sleep next to him. Of course, she willingly accepted. She put the blanket on the floor, and snuggled up closer than ever to Murphy. This was the one place she felt safe, not behind the confines of these walls, but in Murphy’s arms.  
“Tell me I did the right thing”, Raven asked, staring up at Murphy, holding her gaze. This made Murphy feel nervous, he suddenly felt like he did the first day he met Emori.  
“You did,” he stroked her arm, which caused her to arch herself higher, so her face was now eye-level to his.  
She bit her lip, and before she knew it, Murphy had locked lips with her. Neither of them pulled away for a while, but Raven knew it was wrong. That Finn would hate her for kissing his best friend.  
Murphy wrapped his arm around Raven, “get some rest, beautiful. I’ll be here when you wake up”.

Raven and Murphy woke up to the lights being put back on, Octavia and Jasper shoot them a smile as Raven sat up comfortably resting against Murphy.  
“Still cranky being around love birds, Murphy?” Jasper laughed, earning a playful slap off him.  
“Oh, he wishes”, Raven stated sarcastically, rolling her eyes. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was enjoying spending time with Murphy, especially being close to him. They couldn’t take their eyes off each other all morning. Even when Raven was eating, Murphy still kept his gaze fixed on her. To a lot of people, it seemed like a stupid idea, getting this close to someone knowing only one of you would win. But for Raven and Murphy, it was the only thing keeping them sane.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg I just ship Murven so much, it’s insane. Writing about them is giving me so many feelings ahhhh. 
> 
> Sorry this chapter was a little shorter than the last, the next one will be extra juicy. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

It had been two days since they stepped foot into this area, and only seven people had died, that they know of anyway. As soon as another two were killed they would hear the bang and that would mean they’d have to move on, that’s how it has always worked.  
Raven had been pondering about how much time they would have left. About how many days she had before she died, before she was potentially forced to kill her friends. 

But she knew she wouldn’t and shouldn’t do it, that she should propose to the others a plan to make sure none of them win. That none of them have to kill each other. Raven had an idea.  
There were no cameras in the building they were hidden out in, they all checked and double checked, so Raven knew it would be now or never.  
“I won’t slaughter any of my friends” she stated, huddling closer to them.  
They all focused their gaze on her, nodding for her to continue. She took out the note Kane gave her.  
“Why are you showing this to us?” Jasper asked, looking confused.  
“Think about it. None of the council members are allowed to communicate with any of the combatants before the battle. Bellamy is Clarke’s fiancée , that’s how he got it to me. Kane broke the rules to make sure I got this. Why? Because he doesn’t agree with the contest, every year he’s always present at the beginning, then at the end, when the victor is presented with their badge of honour, he’s nowhere to be seen. Because he can’t handle it.”  
“What’s your point, Raven?” Miller snapped. “Because I don’t see a damn way out of this, do you?”  
Raven nodded. “We’ve been brainwashed into thinking this is for the sake of the human race, that’s bullshit. This is a show for the people, to unite everyone, to make everyone follow orders. If they want a show, I say we give them one.” Raven looked towards the shining wristbands around their wrists.  
“Murphy, get me the pliers out of my bag. Monty, can you work on wiring this old control to the wristbands, I need a radio signal, not a public channel, but a private one.”  
“You brought a remote control with radio frequency as your special item? Really Raven, I thought it’d be a picture or Finn’s necklace but damn, I should’ve known you had something up your sleeve.” Murphy sniggered.  
“Octavia, hold out your arm”, Raven demanded, as Murphy passed her the pliers, pecking her lips as he does so.  
“I love it when you talk all technical”, he joked.  
“I won’t take it off, not when it means Bellamy will think I’m dead”, Octavia hesitated.  
“Trust me, it will only be temporary, we need a working wristband. If we get it right, we can program it to temporarily suspend the transmission, for as long as we talk to Kane, then we put it back on and it will just be recorded as a technical error.” 

Raven was worried the plan would go sideways, that another three people would be killed before they had chance for their plan to work. They all took a vow to not kill each other, and if they stayed in hiding until the next area they would be fine. Monty worked on the wiring, Raven took off Octavia’s wristband with minimal damage and Miller kept watch in case anyone else saw them. Murphy was assisting Raven, well, he was sitting and looking at her lustfully for the most part, but he helped her a little. 

“Eureka”, Monty exclaimed, “one working radio”.  
He handed Raven the remote, which was now connected to the wristband, they had reverse engineered it to make it a communication device. “Come on Kane, please respond”, Raven muttered under her breath. She knew his private radio line by heart, Sinclair often got her to patch him through to talk about stuff that they were working on outside the walls, stuff that could get Kane demoted from his position on the council.  
A mumble came through the radio, which showed the line was working. Raven coughed, to make it known she was there and wanted to talk to him.

“Raven?” Kane whispered, “what are you doing?”  
“Look Kane, we don’t have much time.”  
“Hold on, we?” Kane interrupted.  
“Me, Murphy, Miller, Monty, Jasper and Octavia Blake.”  
“Look. We aren’t killing each other, we are friends. Some of us, best friends, some of us lovers, hell some of us are family Kane.” Raven looked to Octavia and smiled, Octavia was Clarke’s sister-in-law, and Clarke was engaged to Bellamy.  
“What would happen if we got to the final battle and refused to fight?” Jasper asked.  
“That’s if you make it to final battle, the next few areas are challenging to say the least.”  
“I don’t care about the next few, what would happen if we refuse, Kane?” Raven demanded an answer from him.  
“Then you die. Jaha will execute you for rebelling and there will be an uprising.”  
“So much for being on our side, Reyes”, Jasper said.  
“I’m very much on your side, Mr. Jordan. I don’t agree with Chancellor Jaha’s ideas or decisions, especially not putting a group of friends and lovers together, that was his plan by the way, to make it more of a show.”  
“I can stop it. I will stop it. Leave it with me, Raven. If you all make it to the final, I promise your salvation.” Kane spoke softly over the radio. “The less you know, the better. Radio silence from now until then, be safe all of you. I can’t help you if you’re dead.”  
The radio went silent, they all breathed a sigh of relief, and hugged each other.  
“So now we’ve just got to try and not get killed I guess”, Murphy commented.  
“Erm, guys. Look.” Miller pointed at a group of people edging closer to our building. Raven rushed to get Octavia’s wristband back on, whilst Monty packed away the rest of the stuff in his backpack.  
“What do we do?” Jasper asked.  
“We kill them, so we can move the hell on from here”,Murphy replied, aiming his gun out of the window towards them. He takes a shot, Miller takes one too, killing 3 out of the 4.  
“Now, we run.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I lied. There wasn’t much Murven in this chapter but I PROMISE the next there will be.


	7. Chapter 7

The group ran towards the door, as a loud bang rang through the arena. Emori was in sight of Murphy and Raven, they almost felt bad that she wasn’t part of their group, although she was standing with Gaia by the entrance of the new area. They didn’t know what to expect, Kane told them the next few areas would be challenging. They walked towards the door, a few metres apart; so the audience didn’t know their plan. It was easy to see that they cared for each other, but as far as the audience knew, they were just in it for themselves, not wanting to kill their friends. Murphy, Miller and Jasper had their rifles facing forward, ready to shoot; Raven and Monty had their knives by their sides, and Octavia had her hand on her sword. Emori and Gaia made their way over to Murphy, and they stood closely by his side. Raven found herself getting very jealous at how close Murphy was to Emori., She caught Raven looking a few times, this caused her to become even closer to Murphy.

_Combatants, there are 20 of you left. This next area requires speed and strength. No weapons are required, please leave them at the door, they will be available again after you have completed this battle. Before you enter this next area, we remember the fallen; Atom Ward, Connor Lawton, Roma Bragg, James Dax, Luisa Fox, Peter Colton, Bradley Jones, Echo Teles, Anya Lachman, Denia Kyron. Remember, your sacrifice is for the sake of the human race. Be victorious._

The door opened, revealing a large water supply, it looked like a large lake and a dam. On the other side, a door. Lexa jumped in and started swimming, followed by Ontari. “Come on, let’s go”, Octavia muttered, pulling Murphy and Raven close. “How hard can it be?” Murphy replied. Raven jumped in first, followed by Murphy. They start swimming, side by side. A couple of the combatants are lingering around at the start, seeing if there’s another way to get to the door without swimming. Not everyone could swim well, and the chancellor knew that. A whirring sound started to drill around the area, before they knew it, the water turned into rapids, throwing them around. “Hold on to the side of the shore, Raven” Murphy yelled, pointing back to the start. She let the rapids take her back to the start, where Ilian, Gaia and Emori were stood.

They pulled her back up to the shore, she struggled to catch her breath. “Murphy”, she muttered, barely audible. Standing to her feet, she looked around, unable to see Murphy anywhere. Octavia and Miller had made it to the shore, Lexa was holding onto the rocks at the side of the lake. “I need to go back in”, Raven loosened her grip from Gaia, who was trying to hold her back. “I’ll find Murphy, you need to stay here”, Ilian demanded. “When the rapids stop, jump in and swim like mad, okay?” He said, before jumping in. “Thank you” Raven placed her hand on top of Gaia and Emori’s, “you saved me”. “John would never forgive me if I let you die”, Emori said. She looked sad. Raven almost forgot for a second that Emori was his ex, that she had every right to be sad, to want to make sure he survives. She hugged Emori, squeezing her tightly, “he will always care about you, Emori”. Ilian struggled in the distance to find Murphy, he kept diving under the water where the current wasn’t as fast. Another whirring sound filled the air, which marked the end of the rapids. Raven, Emori and Gaia jumped in and swam like their lives depended on it. As they approached the shore, Ilian was pulling a body up. Raven was helped up by Octavia and Monty. “No, no, Murphy”, she cried, falling to her knees. Miller ran over to him, “he’s not breathing, move over”. Emori looked on from behind Raven, tears formed in her eyes. It was in that moment, that Raven realised she loved Murphy, nothing else mattered. Not Finn, not Emori, not even winning the damn contest. If Murphy died, a part of Raven would die too. She had only properly known him a few days, but even when they saw each other around Arkadia, when she used to go and visit Finn, even after their break up, Murphy would always have that smile on her face which gave her butterflies, he was always kind to her. A part of her always fancied him, but she never thought that it would ever amount to anything. Now, she had to look on, fearful that she would never get to tell him her true feelings. “Thank God”, Emori cried, rushing to Murphy’s side. Raven had been in her own world when he started breathing again. She was staring out into the lake, wondering if she’d ever be able to live with herself if Murphy died. When she heard Emori cry out, she knew he was alive. She rushed over to him, and knelt over his body, “don’t you do that to me, I need you Murphy”, she wept as she held his hand. “I’m here, it’s okay”, he whispered. “Erm, guys, look”, Jasper yelled, pointing towards the far end of the lake. “Get out of the water”, Octavia yelled, Lexa and Ontari pulled themselves up onto the shore. Harper, Monroe and Riley were still in the middle of the lake swimming. A tsunami wave smacked down on them just as Riley met the shore. Harper and Monroe had been thrown under it. The combatants, all 18 of them who had made it to the shore, watched on in horror as they tried to fight their way through the wave, it smacked them around, throwing Harper back to the shore. Her body was covered in cuts, wounds and her breathing was slowing. “Hey, it’s okay, you’re gonna be okay”, Monty said, cradling her head in his arms. He was crying, she was one of his childhood best friends, they drifted apart when they hit sixteen, but he still cared for her. “In peace, may you leave this shore”, Jasper recited, “in love may you find the next, safe passage on your travels, until your final journey on the ground. May we meet again”. “May we meet again”, Raven and Murphy uttered at the same time. The final bang sounded, meaning it was time to move on. Raven helped Murphy to his feet and approached the door. “12 down, 18 to go. I’ve already died once, bring it on”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MURPHY!!!! 
> 
> My fucking feels ahhhh. 
> 
> I feel so bad that I didn’t include Harper in the OG group, but I always found her character so boring and I struggle to write for her!! 
> 
> This chapter was so hard, I’m struggling to think of different challenges they can do without replicating the hunger games (which was kind of not my plan) so any suggestions would be appreciated !!!


	8. Chapter 8

Raven found herself clung to Murphy’s side, she almost lost him, and she certainly wasn’t going to let that happen now. He was the one who was supposed to be protecting her, but it was now the other way round, she was protecting him.

The door opened, Raven sighed at the thought of another round of damn fighting. Another round of hiding. She wanted it to be over. For Kane to come up with a plan. For her to just be back in her house with Sinclair, fixing some machinery. Anything to take her away from the arena.  
“Raven, come on”, Murphy grabbed her hand and lead her through the cliffy terrain. It was almost pitch black, but Murphy was guiding their way with a flashlight. It was hard to know if there was anywhere they could hide out, especially since the lights had been turned off in the area. Probably to make it harder for the combatants.  
“The people who are left, they all have combat training. Ilian, Ontari and Lexa were trained from the age of 10 to fight. If it comes down to us and them, there’s no way we will win”, Raven whispered.  
Murphy nodded, “Let’s make sure it’s not us and them, then”.  
Raven was right, there’s no way they would win if they had to fight against those people, although Ilian helped them in the previous area, he was trained to kill. It could’ve gone a lot differently if they all had their weapons in the previous, he could have killed her.  
Their friends were following closely behind them, as they made their way to a creek at the bottom of one of the cliffs.  
They made camp for the night just after eating their rations. Raven was snuggled up closely against Murphy, his body heat keeping her warm. “You know, every time you look away, Emori’s eyes wander over to you” Raven states, her breath hot against Murphy’s neck.  
“Someone a little jealous, Reyes?” He replied, with that god damn sarcasm which makes her want to rip his clothes off.  
“You wish”, she let out a small giggle. He pulled her even closer.  
“I hadn’t noticed. But before you go all little miss jealousy on me, I don’t care. You’re the only person I’ve got eyes on”.  
Raven couldn’t control herself, she clambered on top of him and started kissing him, not caring who saw, they were past that now.  
The kiss deepened with every second, they barely even drew breath.  
“About damn time”, Octavia joked, raising her hands in the air.  
Raven had never been shy, but he made her feel that way, he made her feel safe, secure and like she was protected. She suddenly thought of Finn, watching the contest, she knew he would be hurt by the kiss. After making a huge mistake by cheating on her with Clarke Griffin a couple of years back, he pleaded for her to get back with him on the daily when she used to visit him. She always turned him down, he was family more than anything, but she could never be with him in that way again, not after how much he hurt her. 

Those big blue eyes of Murphy’s were Raven’s newest weakness. She could stare at them for hours, days, even months. It’s like she found herself lost in them, even in the midst of a battle.  
“You know, it’s rude to stare, Reyes?” He circled the crook of her back with his finger, sending shivers down her spine.  
“Oh, don’t flatter yourself, Murphy”, she replied, before kissing him once more. 

A loud wail interrupted the Raven and Murphy show, causing them to jolt up out of the position they were lay in. The lights flickered for a while, before turning on, to reveal Lexa running through the cliff top above them, away from a group that they couldn’t quite make out who it was.  
“What do we do?” Jasper muttered, taking Octavia’s hand in his for safety.  
“We can’t hide forever” Miller exclaimed, “I say we fight them, there’s 6 of us. We can take them”.  
Murphy nodded in agreement, as well as Octavia. Monty, Jasper and Raven were a little more dubious of the idea.  
They sauntered slowly up towards the cliff just after Lexa had passed above them.  
“Wait behind the high rocks, in twos”, Miller whispered loudly. 

Raven kept close to Murphy, she really didn’t want to have to kill anybody. She knew that Miller was right, they can’t hide forever, but she wished they could.  
“I saw her run this way, she can’t have gotten far. I imagine Ontari won’t be long behind her, she’s wanted her dead for as long as I can remember” a husky voice who Raven recognised as John Mgbe stated.  
“How many?” Murphy asked.  
Raven gestured “four” with her fingers to the others. They were pretty close to the group now, Octavia moved backwards, her feet knocked into another rock, causing it to fall of the edge of the cliff, with a loud bang of course.  
The group were now pretty much on top of them, they’d marched over to where they were hiding.  
Murphy had his gun aimed, ready to shoot, covering Raven. As soon as Mgbe was in sight, Miller and Jasper started shooting. They shoot back, retreating as they do so. A couple of the other guys were lingering on the edge of the cliff, their weapons hot.  
“Miller, watch out”, Raven yelled, as another guy appeared from out of the blue, charging towards him.  
He had jumped on top of him, his weapon flung out of his hand. 

Raven pattered over to where they were. the guy had his hands around Miller’s neck, he was going to kill him. She plunged her knife into the guys neck, making him flop off Miller’s body. He got his breath back, before stumbling to his feet. The shooting had stopped, they were dead. Murphy was watching as blood trickled from Raven’s knife.  
“You son of a bitch”, was the last thing Raven heard before she fell to the ground, gun shot ringing in her ears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun! Who was shot?????? 
> 
> Find out in the next chapter, coming soon!!!


	9. Chapter 9

Everything was blurry. Raven could only just make out the figures surrounding her; scurrying around her. Her thoughts flashed to Sinclair, and then to Finn. How they were her family, no matter what happened they’d always be there for her. Even after Finn cheated on her, he made it known that he will always love her, just not the way she wanted to be loved. She wished she could have said goodbye to him, to make sure he knew that she loved him too. Her mind wandered to Murphy, the boy who came to her with a proposal to save and help her in the arena. The boy who she found herself falling for, even after only five days. The boy who made her feel safe, even in the middle of a battleground. Raven’s head drooped, her body started to feel weak, and her thoughts were few and far between. 

“Raven!” Murphy exclaimed, causing her friends to rush to her side. He shook her, not too hard but enough to bring her back around. A pool of blood had formed underneath her body.  
After fussing for what seemed like forever, it was clear her friends were unsure of what to do, Miller had medical training off Jackson, but nowhere near enough practice to take a bullet out of her.  
“Get me her knife”, Miller instructed to Murphy, who was sat holding her hand, “I need to cauterise the wound. This is going to hurt, Raven”.  
As the hot blade of her knife pressed against the wound, she let out a blood-curdling scream. Murphy did his best to comfort her, Octavia had her head rested on her lap, stroking her hair back and forth. Monty and Jasper were surrounding her body, their weapons pointed outwards, ready to attack anyone who came close.  
“That should stop any external bleeding”, Miller sounded disheartened. “From my counting, 4 are dead. There’s no telling how long it will be until the fifth death, when we can move on. We can’t operate and Raven can’t walk”.  
“Like hell I can’t, I’m good to go”, Raven sat upright, wincing in pain.  
“Raven. Listen to me. That bullet is still inside you, if by some miracle there’s no internal bleeding it might just hold until we get to the next area. But without a qualified medic, and some damn medicine, you won’t make it to the end of the contest”, Miller explained.  
“Then get her a damn medic, Octavia, take off your wristband. Monty can you reverse engineer it to speak to Kane again?” Murphy spat, anger plastered over his face.  
Monty nodded, “I can, but you really think they’re going to send Abby or Jackson in here? The people want death, not recovery.”  
“Just do it, Monty”, Octavia replied, holding out her arm.  
Raven watched on in fear, the fear that maybe, just maybe she will die. The fear that she will leave behind Sinclair, that Finn will hate that he never got to say goodbye, that Murphy will blame himself. She knew the possibilities of surviving a gun shot wound were 50/50, but when the bullet was still inside her, and she couldn’t walk, her odds were looking very slim. If the only chance of her friends surviving was to leave her behind, then she was willing to sacrifice.  
“Leave me behind”, she mumbled, the ruffle of her voice was being drowned out by the sounds surrounding her, but Murphy made out her words.  
“No way, Raven. They’d have to kill me before I leave you here”, he replied, kissing her forehead.  
Her lips arched into a smile, a small one, but a smile nonetheless. Raven knew that he would stay behind with her, but she didn’t want that, she didn’t want him to die for her. Maybe at first, she didn’t care about it, but now, hell now she wanted him to survive, she wanted all of her friends to survive. 

“It’s ready”, Monty muttered.  
“This is Chancellor Jaha, who am I talking to?”  
“You’re talking to Monty Green, Raven was shot. We need Abby Griffin in here right now”.  
“No can do, if she was shot, I’m sorry but her fight is over.”  
“Like hell it is” Raven yelled. “You son of a bitch, where’s Kane?”  
“Council member Kane is in custody, he is being charged with treason”, Raven cried out. She knew this meant he would be executed, that the public would have a say in how he died.  
“I’m sorry, Ms. Reyes, you know the rules. Be victorious.”  
The radio line cut off. They all sat in silence, heads buried in their hands.  
“Im gonna kill him. When we get out of here, the chancellor is dead”, Murphy’s jaw tightened as he faced the camera. 

If one thing was certain, it’s that they didn’t have long before the next area opened, and before her friends had to leave her. They needed a plan, and they needed one quickly. Raven suggested leaving her behind, but nobody accepted that, so it was taken off the table straight away. Miller contemplated operating there and then, but without the right tools, little knowledge and no painkillers, he didn’t think he could do it. They had started to make a stretcher, out of the fabric from the clothes on the dead bodies surrounding them, and some of the equipment they had gathered in their backpacks.  
“Raven”, a female voice which she recognised so well whispered through the radio.  
“Clarke?” Raven uttered back, her friends turned their heads to where she was laying, wristband and remote next to her.  
“Yes, it’s me. I don’t have much time. Miller, you need to get her to the next area, do everything in your power to keep her alive. Monty, when I’m gone, you keep this line closed, put O’s wristband back on. Jasper, anyone comes near you, you shoot. Murphy, you stay by her side, you keep holding her hand, okay?”  
“I’m sorry about Marcus”, Raven wept, “we should never have contacted him”.  
“Hey, it’s okay. Kane is going to be fine. Don’t worry about him. Just get to the next area. My mother will meet you in there, she’s on her way down.” Clarke replied, her voice sounded muffled and she sounded fearful.  
“But Jaha? He will kill her, Clarke.” Monty asked.  
“You let me and my mother worry about Jaha”.  
“Thank you, Clarke. May we meet again”, Raven said.  
“We will”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So idk if the stats are correct about surviving a gun shot, but oh well! 
> 
> Thanks for reading!! Any preferences anyone wants in the next few chapters pls message or comment (I like a challenge) !!!


	10. Chapter 10

The waiting game was the hardest, Murphy had tried so hard to find the guy who shot Raven, but he couldn’t, he ran off as soon as the bullet hit her. It wasn’t long before they moved onto the next area, but for Raven, who was strapped into the stretcher, it felt like forever. They exited the doorway and ended up in a tunnel. It was dark, with only spotlights above different doors lighting the way.

 _Good afternoon combatants, fifteen of you remain. This is the final stretch. Remember your sacrifice is for the sake of the human race- just one rule, be victorious._

“God I hate Jaha”, Murphy said. Everyone laughed at his comment. He had his hand intertwined with Raven’s the whole time. 

The other combatants had already made their way through the different doorways, but Raven and the others remained in the tunnel. Abby appeared moments later and lead them on a path which was out of bounds from the camera’s and into a small room which had a medical bed and some equipment in it.

“What is this place?” Miller asked, curiously furrowing his eyes in the room.

“A secret medical lab. The bodies are brought here after each area and the doctors have to write an autopsy report before sending the bodies up to the Ark. The council want lists of how and what time the combatants died, so they can adapt the arena to make it harder or easier each year. Clarke and Bellamy wanted to come, but I am authorised to and have done this journey a million times which is why I know nobody would follow me.”

“Wow. That’s kinda corrupt” Murphy replied.

“That’s Jaha”, Abby said, helping them to lift Raven onto the bed. Raven flinched at her body being moved, the pain was excruciating for her now.

“Raven, I’m going to have to operate to get the bullet out, okay? I wasn’t authorised to take pain meds so I’m going to have to go in without. I’m sorry, but this is going to hurt. Any questions?”

“Just one. Why can’t I feel my legs?” Raven muttered, Abby’s face dropped as she examined where the bullet had entered her.

“I was hoping you wouldn’t say that. Nerve damage.”

“How bad?” Murphy cut in, before anyone else could speak.

“You might lose the ability to walk, Raven. The bullet is pushing against your spine, thelonger it’s in you the more chance you have of paralysis”

“Take it out, now” Raven shouted, her eyes wet with tears, but she brushed them off and squeezed Murphy’s hand tightly. Octavia sat beside her, taking her other hand in hers.

“You’re gonna be okay”.

The screams of pain coming from Raven were excruciating, it made everyone else in the room fidget or pace or hum to drown out the noise. She kept falling in and out of consciousness, but when she came around, it would be with a huge scream. “Stop, you’re killing her”, Jasper yelled.

“I’m saving her life” Abby replies.

Her heart rate had slowed and she was barely able to keep her eyes by the end of the procedure. But she pulled through, and was greeted by Murphy kissing her head by the time she managed to open her eyes. “Hello”, she responded with a small smile.

“God you had me worried”, Murphy replied. The others were asleep.

“Abby, thank you”, Raven muttered, trying to find Abby’s hand to squeeze.

“It’s my pleasure, Raven.”

“I’m really sorry about Kane, Jaha intercepted his radio signal and told us”.

“Kane is going to be just fine.” At that moment, Abby’s radio started flashing. “Abby, you’re needed in medical right away. Chancellor Jaha’s been shot”.

Everyone had woken up from the sound of Jackson’s voice over the radio lines.

“I’m sorry. That’s my cue to leave. Be safe, Raven you should start to get the feeling back in your leg; you may have a limp, you don’t have time to waste though.

Murphy, Miller, help her walk, even if you have to carry her. When I leave, you stay for ten minutes and follow, take the path to the left, and when you get to the tunnel choose the 4th door along, you’ll be safest there. May we meet again” Abby marched out of the room, speaking into her radio on the way out.

“Jaha’s been shot?” Monty repeated, the friends all stunned at what had just happened.

Ten minutes passed and Raven was helped along by Miller and Murphy, Abby was right. The feeling in her right leg had come back, but her left leg was hard to feel. She could stand on it, but not for long. They arrived at door number four and walked through, into a beach terrain.

It felt like all of their worries had disappeared, beaches were one of the first things to disappear from Earth, they’d only heard about them in stories which the Ark told them.

Murphy and Miller lay Raven down on her side on the sand, they sat by her side whilst they took in the view in front of them. A vast ocean, as blue as the sky used to be, sand that stretched for what looked like a couple of miles.

“Thank you Abby”, Jasper mumbled.

Octavia checked out the beachfront, seeing if there were any more combatants in view, but she couldn’t find any. She lay down her sword, took off her backpack and started undressing, down to her underwear.

“We haven’t tested the water, O”, Miller shouted.

“Oh come on, stop being boring”, she replied, heading into the water. Jasper looked on, his eyes widened at the sight of his girlfriend. “Man, for all its flaws, I really love Earth”. He followed her into the water, undressing as he went. Monty reciprocated, shouting to Murphy, Miller and Monty.

“Fuck it, we’re gonna die soon, may as well go out on a high” he muttered to himself.

Raven sat watching as her friends enjoyed themselves in the water, Octavia and Jasper in each other’s arms, Monty splashing Miller. She could tell Murphy was desperate to go and join them, but he didn’t want to leave her side. Part of her wanted to go in the water too, she wanted to feel the waves beneath her and the water on her face.

“Take me in, Murphy”.

“You can barely stand, Rey. Let alone swim”, he replied comfortingly, stroking a strand of hair out of her eyes.

“Who said anything about swimming? I don’t have to swim when I can float”, she added, taking her jacket off her back.

“I know you want to go in, so take me with you”, she fumbled around trying to remove the blanket from over her bare legs.

“If that’s what you want, Reyes. But I’m afraid for that you’re going to have to trust me to carry you”, Murphy joked, flashing her a sarcastic wink.

“I trust you, Murphy”, she reached over and cupped his face in her hands, “always”.

With that, he kissed her, making her blush uncontrollably. She was still in pain but even that one kiss made her feel safe, made her feel better. John Murphy could be her drug, and she’s addicted.

Murphy carefully flung Raven over his shoulder and strolled down into the water. He held her as she floated on the water, his hand constantly attached to her body. 

“How’s your leg?” Monty said, swimming over to them.

“It feels good. The water is soothing”, she replied. Murphy splashed her with water, causing her to splash him back. Monty had made a fishing rod out of the equipment and tools in both his and Raven’s backpack. He started fishing and caught two large fish, which they were to eat later on. Anything was better than the rations and protein bars they were given.

“I’m going to take a pee”, Jasper stated, getting up from the camp they’d set up.

“Watch out for man-eating jellyfish” Monty joked.

The next moment, whilst eating and drinking, they heard an ear-piercing shriek coming from where Jasper was. Octavia ran to him, crying out, Monty follows, and Miller and Murphy carry Raven.

“No, no. Jasper. Stay with me” Octavia yelled, kneeling beside where Jasper was now sprawled out on the ground.

“What happened?” Miller asked.

“Lexa”, Jasper spluttered. Octavia cried as Monty drops by his side, clinging to his dying best friend. The friend who’s been there through everything, every memory Monty has, there’s Jasper.

“Don’t you leave me alone, please. Jasper I’ll never forgive you, you have to fight”.

A small smile formed on Jasper’s lips, as Octavia places a kiss on them.

“Don’t you say that, don’t live with that. No. Say you love me”, Jasper mutters, barely audible.

“Don’t you do this to me” Monty cries, Octavia sobbing by his side.

He takes out bandages from Miller’s bag tries to dress the wound. Jasper pushes his hand away, grimacing at him. “I’m trying to help you”

“Stop it, Monty. I’m dying”.

As he strains to speak, Monty lifts Jasper’s head up on his knees.

“See you on the other side”

“I love you, I love you”, Monty gets to his knees and walks away.

He turns to see Octavia and the others sobbing at his side.

“In peace may you leave this shore. In love may you find the next. Safe passage on your travels, until our final journey on the ground. May we meet again”, the group cries in sync.

Monty paces the edge of the beach, when Octavia came up behind him.

“Come on Monty, it’s time to go. The bang just sounded. We need to leave”, she placed a caring hand on his shoulder, Monty reached for it.

“He was my best friend” Monty cried.

“I know, I know. He loved us both so much. We will get through this together, I promise you that” she replied.

“No, we won’t. how do you not see that there’s no way out of this damn contest? We are dying too Octavia” Monty spat, before marching towards the door with the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so sorry this didn’t have much Murven content, but the next chapter will be. I’m wanting to give this story more of a storyline rather than just being Murven smut and content (as much as we love it). 
> 
> Any preferences please comment!! 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So so sorry for the very long wait on the update, i’ve been unwell for the past week and had no motivation to write! 
> 
> I hope this chapter makes up for it. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Murphy and Monty helped Raven walk across the beach and to the doors, there was clear tension and sadness in the air as they didn’t mutter a word to each other the whole way. Murphy and Raven kept exchanging looks and smiling at each other, however. Octavia had this cold look on her face which looked like she could kill anyone who even looked at her funny. Miller looked sad, not the crying type of sad, just the sad which made everyone else feel it too. Even the audience back at home would have felt it. Jasper’s death hit them all hard.They made it to the doors, just as it opened. A voice bellowed through the speakers, this time, it wasn’t Jaha. But another voice they recognised as Councillor Sydney. 

_Combatants. This challenge requires you to use your valuable skills and training. This is an escape room. Complete the challenges within the allotted time and you will get to escape, fail and you will die. We remember the fallen: Atom Ward, Roma Bragg, James Dax, Luisa Fox, Peter Colton, Bradley Jones, Echo Teles, Anya Lachman, Denia Kyron, Zoe Monroe, Harper McIntyre, Scott Jonson, Daria Smith, John Mgbe, Connor O,Brien, Xander Yung, Shay Floukru, Adria Rez, Del Cross, Jasper Jordan._

Their faces turned sad at the sound of Jasper’s name, it really had hit them hard. Octavia was Jasper’s first love, from the moment they met on the expedition trial which both of them get sent on at fifteen when he saved her life after being attacked by a sea creature, she knew he was the one for her. Everybody in Arkadia loved them together, they were so compatible and were the nations sweethearts. Raven had never known Octavia to be without Jasper, they became friends through Bellamy.  
“Well this should be fun”, Murphy uttered sarcastically, his hand still intertwined with Raven’s. The first room was confusing, it was white and had no signs of another door or anything to even try and solve for that matter. Raven winced in pain, her leg was still suffering from nerve damage, but she had to get through this challenge. “Get me my torch out of my bag, Murphy” she demanded, feeling the wall for clues. Her friends were by her side, helping keep her steady. She shone the torch onto the wall, then onto the floor and the ceiling. “Got it”, her eyes lit up, she pointed to a device on the wall. Miller reached for it, pulling it off the wall, “now what?”

“Now, we find a code”, the other combatants started to gather around her, looking around the room for clues. She sat on the floor upright against the wall, Murphy stuck by her side. “You doing ok, Rey?” He asked, stroking her hand with his finger. “I’m ok as long as you’re by my side”, she whispered to him, his lips curved into a little smile. “You know, I never thought Jasper would be the first of us to go. He was so strong”, a tear fell down Raven’s face, she made no effort to wipe it away. A light turned on in the room, revealing many different challenges which had to be completed in order to retrieve part of the code. Emori and Gaia were sat at the other side of the room, whispering and looking over at Raven’s group of friends.Octavia noticed a box with a hole in it, she wandered over to it, Miller followed her close behind. She put her hand in the box, feeling around for clues, it started to heat up in there. Although her arm was burning, she managed to retrieve the clue pretty quickly, placing the plaque down next to Raven she poured salt water over the blisters which healed them almost instantly. “Octavia, you need to rest”, Miller stayed. “No, Miller. What I need is revenge”, she replied, her glare locked on Lexa who was sat alone in the corner of the room, fiddling with some equipment. A small hatch swung open in the wall opposite the combatants, revealing a secret room. Gaia and Emori stood up, they were holding a book which read the rules for the secret hatch.

 _“When the clock strikes midnight, you have sixty seconds to reroute the control panels in order for the door to the next room to open where the rest of your clues will be presented, two of you are required. One must monitor and control the flow of pressure, whilst the other reroutes the panels. Be warned, the temperature in the hatch will increase rapidly as the pressure continues to rise. Fail and you will burn”_.

Raven tried to scramble to her feet, but Murphy held her back. “Raven, no. You aren’t fit enough to mess around with panels.”    
“I’ll do it”, Monty replied, stepping forward.  
“It has to be me. Sinclair trained me for this”, Raven spoke up.   
“Ok, then I’ll help”, Murphy said, “tell me what to do and I’ll do it”.There was only one other person who knew what to do, and that was Emori. She helped train her and they were put on a mission together with two others and Sinclair to save Arkadia from being melting down by a failure in the the nuclear reactor.

“It’s too complicated Murphy”, Raven caught Emori’s eye, she sighed before walking over to her. “So I guess this is my queue. Time to see how much I was paying attention last time. I’ll handle the panels, you control the flow of the pressure”. The clock was on 11:59, Murphy and Octavia helped to position Raven by the hatch door, ready for it to open. Emori kneeled next to her, ready to crawl in and help to get the door open. 

“Hey, if you fail, you’re toast. I can’t lose you, Reyes.” Murphy whispered, kissing her forehead. Emori looked on, it was clear she was upset about Murphy and Raven but she couldn’t do anything about it. “We were trained for this, Murphy. We got this”, Raven exclaimed. The hatch door opened moments later, they made their way to the equipment, Raven lagged behind due to the nerve damage in her leg. But she caught up eventually. **“60 seconds to system failure”** , the machine echoed. Emori shot her a reassuring look and they started working quickly. The hatch was at thirty degrees now and getting hotter by the second. Raven started controlling the pressure in the gauge, whilst Emori rerouted the first panel. **Fifty seconds**. “How far are you on two?” Raven asked. 

“I can’t, something is blocking the panel, it’s jammed”. “Move onto three, come back to it later”. “I can’t see straight”, Emori replied, plugging the next panel into the core.   
“It’s just the heat making you dizzy. We have to get this done”.   
“Almost done on three, moving onto four now. How’s the pressure?”   
“The flow is slowing but without that second panel it will increase again as soon as I stop controlling it” Raven shouted.

 **Forty seconds to system failure**.

“Come on Emori, you can do this”.   
She clicked a few switches into place and moved the fourth panel into the core.  
“You and John.” Emori questioned. “Let’s not do this now”, Raven replied.

 **Thirty seconds to system failure.**

“Raven it’s jammed. I can’t do it”.  
“Move over”, Emori hesitated.   
“We’re about fifteen degrees from burning to death, Emori, now move over”,

 **Twenty seconds to system failure**.

Raven fumbled around with the pressure gauge, her forehead soaked with sweat.

 **Fifteen seconds to system failure**.

“Raven, I need you to hear this. John loves you. I’ve known it from the moment I saw you together. You have to get out of here, for him. Crawl over to the door, I’ll finish the job.”   
“No, Emori. I let go of that dial and you’ll be toast. I just need a few more seconds.” “A few more seconds, and we will both be toast. Go. You have to go. I got this.”   
“I-“ “Just go, Raven. I know you and John have a plan to save your friends. Get out of here and survive, your friends are waiting.”“You’re my friend too, Emori”  
“I know. That’s why I have to do this. Now go.” 

**Five seconds to system failure.**

**Four**

**Three**

**Two**

“Get out of there, now.” Emori yelled.Raven crawled through the hatch, to Murphy waiting on the other side for her, she fell into his arms. 

**System Failure corrected**.

“She did it.”, Raven opened the hatch back up and crawled back in, pulling Emori’s limp body through.Miller and Monty ran to her side, they gave her fluids and Gaia poured cold water over her to try and cool her down.  
“She saved me”, Raven panted. “She wouldn’t let me die. She knew if we both waited until the last second, I wouldn’t make it out of the hatch without burning. So she took over and let herself burn instead”. Murphy looked sad, but also very grateful. “Is she gonna be okay, Miller?” Raven asked, looking at the huge blisters formed all over her body. She was struggling to breathe. Gaia was next to her, holding her hand. They had been friends since they were very young, Emori’s parents left her at Arkadia’s gates, where Gaia’s Mom, Indra found her and took her in. Miller shook his head. Murphy had tears forming in his eyes. “Thank you”, he whispered, stroking her hair back from her head. “Raven told me what you did. I’m sorry, I should have told you about us.” Emori struggled to find her words, “I just want you to be happy, John.” Raven, Murphy and Gaia sobbed, as Emori struggled, the other combatants watching on. 

“In peace, may you leave this shore. In love may you find the next. Safe passage on your travels, until our final journey on the ground. May we meet again”, Raven recited.“May we meet again”, the combatants repeated, in a small whisper. Gaia was the one to cradle Emori as she took her last breath, “yu gonplei ste odon”. 

The door to the next part of the escape room flung open, the combatants headed over to it. Miller helped Murphy with Raven, Gaia followed closely at their side. She knew she shouldn’t, but Raven couldn’t help but look back at Emori’s lifeless body on the floor.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update, I’ve been sick again.
> 
> Hope you enjoy this chapter!

There was a lingering feeling of regret for Raven for letting Emori die for her. That’s the aim of the contest, but it isn’t what should have happened. Emori was Raven’s friend, and she knew that deep down Murphy was hurting. You never forget your first love, after all. If anything happened to Finn, Raven would be heart broken.   
The combatants found themselves in the next part of the escape room, Murphy still by Raven’s side and their friends just lingering in front of them. There were only eight combatants left, everyone was getting agitated and just wanted it to be over. But in these games, fear is weakness. Gaia walked over to the table in the centre of the room, she found the instruction manual and read out loud the rules.

 _“Combatants. Each jar contains a symbol on the bottom, however it will only be revealed once you have drank the liquid inside. Once each person has drank you must collect the symbols, turn them into numbers and tap them into the control box, then you can escape”.   
_They made their way over to the table, taking a seat in front of each jar. Raven was sat next to Murphy, her hand placed firmly on his thigh for comfort and support. Slowly but surely, after the initial wave of worry came over everyone, Ilian was the first to drink, “infinity symbol”, he shouted to Raven who was taking note in a notebook she had in her bag. Octavia eyed up the green liquid in front of her, she took a swig, grimacing at the taste, “Yin & Yang symbol”.   
The combatants took it in turns, each reading out the symbols at the end of the task. The only two left to drink were Riley and Raven. In previous years, only six people made it to the final, and there was eight of them left in this room. Odds were that one or both of them still had to die before the final area, which is the hardest and worst one, it always is. Raven sensed Monty scrutinising the jars, Jasper was a chemist so would have known exactly which one was poison or not. He nodded to her as she picked up the jar with red liquid in, Riley was left with the blue liquid.   
“Ladies first”, Riley exclaimed, a smug look had appeared on his face.   
Raven could barely hold the liquid in her mouth, the taste was the most disgusting thing she’d ever tasted, she retrieved the symbol from the bottom of the jar and wrote it down.   
“How do you feel, Rey?” Murphy asked her, stroking her hand with his thumb. She just smiled and nodded in response, there wasn’t much else she could do. She was probably the only one who could decipher the symbol meanings into numbers, maybe Monty could too but Raven had extra training on coding when training.   
Riley read out the symbol after he had consumed his drink and smiled soon after because he didn’t die. They all looked at each other, confused that there were still eight of them alive. Raven sat working out the symbols and how they could be connected to numbers for the control box. She cracked three of the codes before tapping the numbers in, but she couldn’t quite get the last part right.   
“I’ve tried everything, I’m pretty sure we need one more symbol in order to find the final number”, she raised her voice, but kept herself completely occupied with working out the code.   
Ontari fixed her gaze to Raven, “that’s impossible, there was eight jars for eight of us. Octavia got the first symbol from the box in the first area, and then we got these ones here. That should be nine symbols, nine for nine who entered”.   
“Nine who entered”, Raven repeated, tapping away at the control box, “thank you”.

A bell rang, but the door didn’t open. Everyone got up, they were confused.  
“Over there”, Lexa stated, pointing to a red button on the wall. She walked over to it, and pressed the button. The door opened swiftly. Raven and Murphy were the first to make it through the door, but it closed straight after they got through, there was no way for them to open it from the outside. Raven’s face dropped, she figured out that the only way to keep the door open was to keep the button pressed down. As soon as the door opened, it had to stay open, otherwise it would close shut within five seconds. A few seconds later, Miller and Octavia appeared through the door. Raven hugged them both, she was worried that they wouldn’t get out. Gaia followed shortly after, to which Raven and Murphy were pleased.  
“What’s the plan for when there’s nobody left to press the damn button”, Octavia asked Gaia. She shrugged, “They’ll think of something I’m sure”.   
The friends watched on, clearly they were having trouble trying to figure out how to keep the door open. Perhaps it was never intended to be left open, someone was supposed to die in that room, the poison wasn’t killing them, but escaping was. 

“Come on, Monty”, Murphy muttered, his eyes transfixed on the doorway.

“He’ll figure something out”, Raven whispered to him, taking his hand in hers. Since the hatch, Murphy seemed distant, he had barely looked at Raven properly since and something felt wrong. For a minute, she thought maybe he was mad at her for surviving and not Emori. That thought made her feel sick, she snatched her hand away from his, and stood against the wall of the tunnel. She had always been second place to every boy she loved, Finn cheated on her after he was released from lockup, when she went on a mission to fix one of the nuclear panels in Arkadia. Wick left her for someone else, who he had a child with only recently, and Shaw left her to become colonel in the national guard.

The door opened, making Raven snap back into reality. It wasn’t Monty who appeared, but Ilian and Riley.   
Miller was pacing in front of Raven, “what the hell is he waiting for? come on Monty”.

From the other side of the door, Monty spoke softly into the comms speaker above the button.

“Guys, are you there?”

“We’re here Monty, what’s taking you so damn long. Just put one of the chairs from the table against the door when it opens.” Octavia said softly back to him, she sounded concerned.

“The chairs are flimsy and wooden, that door is approximately 130kg of reinforced steel, it would crush it instantly”, he explained, his tone subdued.   
“Then sprint as soon as you let go of the button”, Murphy shouted.   
“I can’t. I won’t make it from the other end of the room in time.” Monty sighed, “someone has to stay behind”. 

Octavia started frantically pacing now, she was angry, her lips pressed together, she slammed her fist against the wall. “Then let it be Lexa. She killed Jasper, she deserves to die”.

“None of us deserve to die, Octavia. Yes, she killed Jasper, but we killed people too. It has to be me.”   
Raven let out a small cry, to which Gaia comforted her. “No, Monty. Please. You have to survive. You’re a good person, Monty, one of the best I know-“ 

“No Raven. I have nothing to live for anymore. Jasper is gone, Harper is gone. My parents are gone. We know what’s next, it’s the fighting pits. You all know I’m not a fighter. This is what I have to do. It’s my duty. I can’t live without Jasper. I thought maybe I could, but he was everything to me. I’m sorry. I love you all. Be the good guys. May we meet again”.Octavia let out a series of screams, Raven cried uncontrollably and didn’t care that everyone at home would see it, Miller was on his knees, his head in his hands, and Murphy’s eyes were red and puffy as the door opened for the final time, revealing Ontari and Lexa. They didn’t even have time to turn back to look for Monty before the door shut for the final time.

“He saved us”, Lexa muttered under her breath.   
“You killed his best friend and yet he still saved your damn life. Be grateful it wasn’t any of us in there, otherwise you’d of been the one to stay behind”, Murphy spat. 

Somehow, the group felt incomplete without Monty. His loss would be felt all over Arkadia, as he was one of the engineering team members who helped save people on a daily basis in Arkadia. He saved the lives of the residents so many times, yet when it mattered the most, he sacrificed himself so that two people who he didn’t even really know could live. That just showed the type of person Monty was, a good person. And now, he was gone.


	13. Chapter 13

This was it. This was the last area of the contest. This was the last time everyone would be alive together. After this, only one would remain. If they were to be saved, it had to be now or never. With Kane being executed and Jaha being shot, the odds of that were pretty slim.   
Standing outside of the door to the next area in the tunnel, Raven couldn’t help but cry. Everything hit her all at once, Jasper, Emori, Monty and Harper were gone. Soon, she would be fighting for her life when she can barely even stand. She looked around at the other combatants, they were practicing their fighting techniques. Raven, Murphy and Miller didn’t stand a chance in hell against the others. Octavia, on the other hand, did. If anyone was going to win out of them all, it had to be her. Raven limped towards her friends, who were sat close together talking. “We need a plan for when we’re in there”.   
Miller scrutinised her as she sat down next to them, “what have you got in mind?”   
“Octavia, take out Lexa and Ontari; they’ll be ones to put up the best fight. Miller you kill Riley. Murphy take out Ili-.”   
Murphy interrupted her, “in case you didn’t realise Reyes, you’re their target. As soon as you get into the pits, they’re going to try and kill you. Your leg means you can’t fight as well as us, that’s your weakness and they know it”. “Murphy”, Octavia spat, glaring at him.   
“I’m just saying. Her leg will slow her and us down, giving them an advantage over us”, he replied.   
“I’m sorry I’m such an inconvenience to you Murphy.” Raven struggled up off the floor and started to walk away.   
“Raven, wait”, he replied, following her.“What? Say how you really feel, Murphy. Clearly you’ve got a problem with me, ever since Emori died you have barely even spoke to me.”   
“You know that’s not fair, Raven. She was my ex-girlfriend, of course I’m going to be sad she died.”  
“And I’m not? She sacrificed herself for me, the last thing she told me was that I had to get out of there for you, because she knew that you love me. But every time you look at me, it’s like you’re blaming me for her death.”“I’m sorry, I don’t know what to say. I don’t blame you at all, every time I look at you, I see her telling me she wants me to be happy. But how can I be happy knowing that I might lose the one person I love?”   
“Murphy, I-”

“Just listen. I love you Raven. But, I’m absolutely terrified that I will lose you too. That I’ll have to watch someone kill you in the pits. I’m scared that you aren’t going to get out of this damn contest, that you won’t get out of here and live your life”.   
Before he could say anything else, Raven kissed him. Everyone was watching, but she didn’t care at all. She pulled away, “I love you too, Murphy.”   
He took her hand in his and started to walk back over to Octavia and Miller. 

“Wait”, Ilian and Gaia shouted from behind them. “We refuse to kill you. If it comes down to it, Raven, we will spare your life.”   
Raven turned to look at them both, a little smile formed on her face. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing, people actually wanting to save her life. She didn’t know why, but she was grateful. Maybe this was the year that could change everything.   
“I will spare your life too, Reyes.” Riley shouted, causing Raven to shed another tear.   
“Same here”, Lexa and Ontari said. “You have to win this, Raven. You’re the only person in this whole damn contest that it will matter if you survive. You mean something to Arkadia. We heard the screams and cheers for you in the arena. Just know, that we won’t kill you.” 

By now, all of the combatants had gathered around her. Octavia and Miller hugged her tightly, Murphy couldn’t stop kissing her, and the others looked on, all of them smiling at the thought of Raven surviving. 

Suddenly, the door to the pits opened. They all hesitated before walking through the door, but they were greeted by a new set of weapons hanging from the wall.

_Combatants, choose your weapons carefully. Remember, there will be only one winner. Be victorious._

Ontari was first to choose her weapon, which was a spear. Gaia chose a staff. Ilian chose a machete. Riley chose a dagger. Lexa chose a sword. Murphy chose an axe. Miller chose a Katana. Octavia chose the other sword. Raven chose the only thing that was left, but probably the strongest weapon there, a trident.As the bang sounded, Raven retreated slowly towards the back of the pits, on instruction from the other combatants. Octavia was in front of Lexa, her sword pointed in front of her, ready to fight. She struck Lexa in her leg first, knocking her to the ground. “You killed Jasper. For that, you die.” 

She waited for her to emerge again, this time, Lexa dodged her sword and struck her in the arm. Raven watched on in fear, she wanted to do something, to save her friends. She didn’t want to be the only one that survived.   
Ilian charged at Ontari, to which she fell to the floor, but got back up shortly after. “You’re weak, Ilian”, she yelled before prizing the spear through his neck.   
“No”, Raven yelled, limping over to him. “You’re not supposed to die. You saved my life”.  
“I can’t move, I can’t feel my legs. Please, Raven. Take my life.”   
“No, Ilian.”   
“Please. Raven you have to.”   
“Do not fear death, for it is just the beginning of another journey” he muttered.   
“Your fight is over”, she muffled, taking a knife out of her boots and stabbing him through the heart. She stood over him, blood trickling from the knife.   
Murphy clocked her, he walked backwards to where she was stood. “Raven, we told you to stay back.” He noticed the knife in her hand, and looked up to the camera. “They’ll kill you for that, one weapon, that’s the rule”, he whispered.   
“Then let them kill me.” Raven spat, looking into the camera. Before Murphy could say anything, Riley swung his dagger at him, making him stumble backwards.

“Raven, get back”, Murphy stated.

“I’m not here to kill Raven, only you.” Riley swung his dagger again, this time he was met by Ontari’s spear through the chest.

“You’re welcome”, she said. “Now get out of my way, I don’t want to kill you too, Murphy”.

Murphy and Raven stood on the sidelines, watching as Ontari fought anyone who was in her way, that included Miller and Octavia. Murphy wrapped his hand in hers, as the fear overcame both of them.   
“So much for salvation”, he joked. It was clear that Raven was angry that her plan to save her friends was not going to happen. After all, Kane had been executed and Abby probably got found out for helping to save Raven. It had been two days since she was operated on in secret, and two days since they heard Jaha was shot. 

Ontari Octavia were fighting, Octavia was winning, of course. Miller and Gaia reluctantly tried their hardest to make it look like they were fighting, but they really didn’t want to have to.   
“What if it’s just us two left?” Raven asked, stroking Murphy’s hand with her thumb.   
“Then you kill me, Reyes. There’s only one person coming out of here alive, and that has to be you.”   
“No, Murphy. I refuse. They can’t make us kill each other.”   
“They can’t, but they will execute one of us as soon as we step foot out of the arena”.   
“Let them try”, Raven replied. 

A bang sounded throughout the arena, Raven looked towards Miller and Gaia, who ran over to them. Ontari and Octavia lowered their weapons.

 _“Combatants. The rule requiring only one winner has been changed. Now, there will be no champions, just a fight to the death. The relatives of the final one to die will receive their medal of honour, and we will move them to the nobility quarters where they will be given victors treatment. We thank you for your sacrifice, be the last._ ”

“Son of a bitch”, Murphy spat, he was interrupted by the bang sounding through the pits. Everyone knew that this would shake things up. It would be everybody for themselves, Ontari had her mother and sister back in Arkadia to protect. Octavia had Bellamy. Miller had his father. Gaia had her mother. Murphy’s father was executed for stealing, and his mother killed herself soon after Murphy was locked up, the day that she never turned up when Raven went to visit Finn. Raven’s mother drank herself to death. Meaning that they were the only two with no living relatives.Raven’s thoughts flash to Sinclair and Finn, the only two people who she classed as family to her on the outside. They would never be given the same treatment as living blood relatives, so Raven knew she had to make sure someone with family on the outside would survive.

“I won’t let people’s families suffer because of me.” Octavia stated, “Bellamy has Clarke, he’s basically in the nobility quarters with her anyway.”   
“Same here”, Raven replied. “I have no living blood relatives, I should be the first to die”. “No, you have Sinclair. He may not be blood, but he is your family”, Murphy stated. “I literally have nobody, I must be the first. Octavia, Miller, one of you has to kill me”. 

  
“Ontari.” Raven observed, “Ontari has to win. Her little sister is only twelve.”   
The other combatants nodded. Murphy kissed Raven, before heading over to the centre of the pits. They all stood in a line, ready to die. They all held hands, and bowed their heads. “In peace may you leave this shore. In love may you find the next. Safe passage on your travels, until our final journey on the ground. May we meet again”, they all stated. 

Ontari stepped forward, spear in her hand, “yu gonplei ste odon”.  
Murphy squeezed Raven’s hand, the last time he could ever hold it, as he caught Ontari moving towards him out of the corner of his eyes. “I love you, Raven”, he blurted out. 

Before she could respond, she saw Ontari throw her spear to the back of the room, to where Lexa had only momentarily emerged from the ground, blood dripping from her leg. Ontari fell to the floor with a loud groan, as Lexa’s sword entered her stomach.   
“Fuck”, Murphy muttered. Lexa approached Octavia, “you’ve got lousy precision. You can’t even kill me properly”!  
“Like hell I can’t”, Octavia stated, piercing her sword back thorough Lexa. “Your fight is over”. 

“No. Wait. Lower your weapons.” A voice echoed over the intercoms.   
“Kane. He’s alive.” Raven beamed.  
“As your stand in chancellor, I am overruling the previous message.” Everyone sighed in relief. “Ladies and gentleman of Arkadia, I present to you the champions of this years contest.”


	14. Chapter 14

The remaining combatants, and now champions, hugged each other tightly. The door of the fighting pits reopened, revealing each of their podiums. Raven sauntered towards where Ontari was lay on the floor. She had pulled the sword from her own stomach, and was bleeding out. But, Raven didn’t want her to die. Her family deserved the victor’s treatment still, and they would get it when each champion and their families were moved to the nobility quarters. Raven took our bandages from Miller’s backpack, he helped to dress her wound. 

“Keep fighting, Ontari. When they retrieve the bodies, they will bring you to the hospital quarters. You’ll be on that champions podium with us all in spirit, okay?” Raven said, squeezing her hand.

They walked straight over to their podiums, which brought them back above ground into the arena. They are greeted by cheers and chants.One by one, their names are called out. Raven received the most cheers, of course. She notices Sinclair in the audience, second row from the front. He grinned at her, and blew her a kiss. 

“Ladies and Gentlemen. The champions of the eighteenth annual contest.” Kane beamed, as he made his way out from backstage. He shook hands with all of the combatants, but when it came to Raven, he hugged her. Kane stood behind his podium, whilst they lined up beneath him. They took each other’s hand, and raised them to the ceiling. 

“A lot of you may be wondering why I am stood up here instead of Jaha. Well, unfortunately, he was shot by a guard. He is currently in a coma, and as his second-in-command, it is my job to take over as Chancellor. And as chancellor, I had to make a decision about the fate of our combatants. I was not going to see them die when I could stop it. I’m just sorry I couldn’t stop it sooner.” 

After the formalities of the champions ceremony, and after all of them had been handed their badges of honour, they made their way backstage where their loved ones were waiting. Raven walked hand in hand with Murphy. They were stopped in her tracks by Kane and Abby. She hugged them both tightly, they both saved her life, and she was more than grateful.

“Thank you”, she stated, a smile forming on her face.

“Oh, Raven. I’m so sorry about your friends, about Jasper and Monty. I wish I could have saved them too”, Kane replied.

“Don’t. You have saved us, that’s more than anyone else can say in the history of the contests”, she added.

Abby investigated Raven’s leg from where she was stood, “Raven, can you come and visit me in medical tomorrow? I need to check your leg out, I can see you’re still limping and I’ve got something that might help.”

“Sure thing.”

Murphy segued to a different topic, “you said Jaha was shot by a guard? Was that a coincidence or did our radio call have something to do with that?”

“Ah. Mr. Murphy, remember what I said to Raven, the less you all know the better. Okay?”

Abby interrupted, “go, celebrate being victorious.”  
  
Raven got to the family waiting area, where Sinclair was waiting for her. He ran to her, tears streaming down his face. “Oh, Raven. I am so proud of you.” 

He puts her down after spinning her around, and shakes Murphy’s hand, “thank you for keeping her safe”.

Murphy smiled at him, at the thought of Raven being safe, and being alive was something he was proud of. He helped to do that.Out of the corner of their eyes, Raven and Murphy saw Octavia hugging Bellamy and Clarke, Gaia with Indra, who looked so proud that all of her training paid off. Miller had reunited with Jackson and his father, the one thing he was looking forward to was the party the following night, he was laughing and joking about how he was going to take Jackson as his date. Murphy and Raven looked around the room for Finn but he was nowhere to be seen. It was almost heartbreaking that everyone had someone in the waiting room, except Murphy. He tried to hide his sadness but Raven knew deep down that he was hurting. 

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we have some news. Ontari is alive. She is in medical and being treated for her wounds”, Kane announced. 

The combatants all smiled at that thought, and her family rush to the medical sector.Now Raven had seen Sinclair, she wanted to spend time just her and Murphy. They excused themselves from the celebrations, but before they made their way out, they were embraced by Clarke and Bellamy. 

“You saved Octavia when you shot Echo, thank you.”

“No, thank you. Bellamy if you hadn’t given us that note, I don’t know what would have happened. And Clarke, if you didn’t get Kane to help us, we’d all be dead right now.”They hugged them both again, before heading back to Octavia, who looked downhearted at the fact that Jasper wasn’t there. 

As they arrived at the gate of the nobility quarters, a guard took off their wristband and scanned their fingerprints. That was their way in and out. Only the champions and their families were allowed in their, it was a completely closed off sector from the rest of Arkadia. Almost like they were isolated from everyone else. But they didn’t care because they had each other now and that’s all that mattered. 

The gates opened, and they made their way to their assigned apartment’s, well to Murphy’s, they figured each one would be pretty much the same, with the exception of a few extra rooms depending on their family size.

Before they could even shut the door, Murphy kissed Raven. It was that intense it forced her back up against the wall. They fumbled around, kissing and running their hands all over each other, until they were interrupted by someone coughing. Pulling away from each other, they realise the figure standing in front of them is none other than Finn.

Raven runs to him, pulling him into a hug. “How are you here?”

“A guard owed me a favour. It’s nice to see you too”, he pulled back out of the hug, before approaching Murphy, an angry look on his face and his fists clenched by his side.

“I told you to look after her, not to get with her”, he spat.

“I’m sorry. I-”

“Save it, Murphy. You may have saved her life and I’m grateful for that, but this little thing you have, stops here.”

Raven cursed under here breath, “Finn, you don’t have a say in it.”

“I do, if you want the whole of Arkadia to know it was you that contacted Kane, that it was you who got Jaha shot.”

“You son of a bitch”, Murphy spat, colliding his fist with Finn’s jaw. If the rest of Arkadia knew it was a set up, they would want Raven and Kane executed, and the others locked up for treason.

Murphy tackled Finn to the ground, before Raven could pull him off.

“Stop it.” She yelled. “Finn please. Why are you doing this? I’ll never take you back, if that’s what this is about.”

Finn pulled himself up off the ground, holding his jaw. That punch would definitely leave a bruise.

“I know I messed up, and I’m sorry. I love you, Raven. You deserve the world and I’ll be damned if you think John Murphy can give that to you.”

“John Murphy saved my life.”

“That may be, but I’m the one who told him to look after you. That was me.. I knew he would kill anyone who tried to hurt you because he’s just like me, a criminal.” He turned to face Murphy, who was pacing the room. “Stay away from her. I see you near her again, I’ll make sure the whole of Arkadia knows what she did, and only after you watch her die will I kill you.”

He had the same look in his eye which he did when he killed thirteen people on a scouting mission with Murphy, he said they were a threat, but they were retreating when he shot them all. Murphy knew he wouldn’t hesitate to kill him.

“Now get out”, Finn yelled, opening the door for him.

“Raven, I’m sorry. I can’t let you die because of me.”

She tried so hard to hold back the tears, but they escaped her eyes before she can. She nodded and bit her lip to try and stop the muffles of her sob escaping. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t help but watch as Murphy’s figure faded down the hallway, followed by Finn’s. She was left, all alone. More alone than she has ever felt in her whole life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo sorry for the long delay in posting. I’ve been super busy working lots of extra hours! But I really hope this chapter makes up for it. 
> 
> Yes, I turned Finn into the awful person his character was in the show!!! Deffo a bit more evil and possessive though! 
> 
> Thanks for reading 😜 hopefully I’ll update next week!


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT. I PROMISE I WILL BE MORE CONSISTENT FROM NOW ON.

Raven’s forehead was sticky with sweat. The realisation that she won the contest 200 days ago made her body squirm from underneath the work bench. Every day since the contest Raven had been working her ass off in the maintenance quarters. Not living the life of a champion like Octavia, Gaia, Miller and Ontari were. Every day, she found a new problem to solve, a new issue to fix and a new distraction. But every day, the distraction failed, she found herself thinking about the people she killed, about the people she watched die needlessly. She found herself thinking about Murphy, wondering what he was doing, craving his touch.

“Raven, I’m locking up. You coming home?” Sinclair asked, placing his hand on her shoulder. He was the only person Raven could truly rely on, he’d been there for her every day, he’d wiped her tears, comforted her whenever she felt down, and he’d even asked Kane to give her more jobs in the nobility quarters.

“Leave me the keys, I’ll lock up. I’m just finishing this job off.” She stated, limping over to him before giving him a hug. “I’ll see you at home, Sinclair.”

He knew not to argue about how hard she was pushing herself, he knew she was hurting and the only thing he could do was be there for her, like family should do for each other.

Raven was exhausted, the darkness of the night sky making her even more so. She barely saw the sunlight anymore, that’s how hard she had been working. The path was lit up by solar lights above her head, guiding her way through the Garden of Eden. In the distance, she heard muffled voices, both of them grew louder as she got closer. She darted behind one of the bushes, watching on as the two figures emerged in front of the pond, laughing and joking together. Her jaw stiffened as their faces became clearer, holding hands with each other as the male span her around.

“So, what do you say? You up for a little fun?” The girl asked.

“You know I am,” the boy replied, their figures getting even closer that they were almost on top of Raven. She fumbled backwards, knocking into the bench beside her.

“Hello,” the girl approached her with fear in her eyes. “Raven! You gave me a fright.”

“Ontari,”Raven said, trying hard not making eye contact with her.

From the side of her, Murphy appeared, “Reyes.”

“Murphy.”

“Haven’t seen you around since I came out of surgery. How have you been?”

“Fine. You?”

Raven could sense Murphy studying her, his eyes fixated onto her leg which was strapped in a black brace Wick made for her. It was the least he could do for her to apologise, or so he said when he handed it to her.

“I’m good. My stomach hurts from time to time, but I’m good.”

“Great.” Raven responded. “Glad you’re on the mend. Sorry, if you don’t mind I’ve been working since 6am and I can hear my bed calling me.”

Ontari gave her a half smile, before moving to one side to let her pass. She felt her breathing become heavier and her eyes become blurry from the tears she was holding back. Her leg was killing her, but she didn’t care, she just wanted to get home, to get away from Murphy and Ontari and whatever they had going on.

As she turned onto the path leading to her suite, she felt an arm tug on hers. She knew who it was just from his bare skin on hers.

“What do you want, Murphy?” She asked, spinning herself round to face him.

“I’m worried about you, Raven. It’s been six months and nobody’s seen you.”

“Whilst you’ve been living the high life and jumping into bed with each other, I’ve been working my ass off to save you all. But thanks for the concern.” She snarled.

“I’m sorry.”

“I was prepared to die for you, Murphy, yet you can’t even look at me.”

He bowed his head, before Ontari appeared at his side.

“You know what? Forget it.” Raven spat, “you’re welcome to each other. I’ll be gone soon enough. Then you don’t have to worry about creeping around.”

“You’re leaving?” Ontari replied.

“Yep.” Raven lugged her backpack over her shoulder. “The exodus mission, I’ve signed up for it.”

“That’s a suicide mission.” Murphy replied, his eyes flickering to the mountain which Raven would soon be inside.

“That’s what I’m counting on.”

She pitched forward, leaving them standing on the path. Bursting through the door of her suite, Raven tapped on her wrist device before throwing the keys to Sinclair.

“I’ve left your dinner in the oven.”

“Not hungry.” Raven marched towards her room.

“Raven Reyes, get in here and tell me what’s wrong.”

“I’m fine.”

“Skipping meals, working 12 hours every day, signing up for missions so you can get away from it all. That’s not fine.”

“Okay, you’re right, I’m not fine. I can’t get the image of people dying out of my head. I’m exhausted. I lost Murphy, who is now sleeping with Ontari. I’m in pain every day. I should’ve died in that arena.” Raven broke down, clinging hold of the door frame to stop herself falling to the floor.

Sinclair ran over to her, and pulled her into a hug.

“Hey, out of all of the people in that arena, you’re the only one that deserved to come out of there. Even now, you could’ve been living your life but you are still working to save our home, that’s why you deserved to come out of that contest alive.”

Sinclair really knew what to say to Raven to make her feel better. She gripped onto him tightly, sometimes she wished he was her real father.

“I just want the pain to go away.”

“The pain never goes away, Raven. You just learn to make room for it.”

She woke up the next morning feeling no better than the previous. Today was the day she would be leaving for the exodus mission. Her and Sinclair had signed up for it together, he knew if she was to go, he had to be there to protect her this time, plus his experience in mechanical engineering was exactly what they needed. They were about to head outside of the gates for the first time in 18 years. Mount Weather was a military emergency operations facility. They had tried to contact the Mountain for years, but there was never any response, which meant there were no people, which meant if it met the conditions necessary, they could move some of Arkadia into the mountain.

Raven scraped her hair back into a ponytail, and dressed in the outfit she wore in the contest, it was the only thing comfiest enough for the trek.

They headed over to the entrance of Arkadia where the rest of the team had formed, she turned to the group where she spotted people she knew, lots of them. 

Especially Clarke, her blonde hair shining under the sunlight. Octavia had her hand firmly on her sword and smiled at Raven, “I’m glad you’re here.” She stated.

“You too.”

Next to Octavia, Miller was hugging Jackson. And beside them, Abby Griffin kissed Kane. There were others too, but Raven didn’t know any of them.

They geared themselves up for the mission, it was a three day walk to the mountain.

“Okay, team. Be safe out there.” Kane bellowed, opening the gate.

As Raven stepped forward toward the gate, she was met by Murphy on the other side, “what the hell, Murphy.”

“I figured I couldn’t let you do this without me protecting you again.” Murphy said, before stroking a strand of hair out of her eyes.

They opened the gate to the ruins of the world their parents used to know, to the world that they were told about in the stories, to the world that tried to kill them once, but not this time.


End file.
